Intergalactic Astrobiological Union
The Intergalactic Astrobiological Union, also known as the IAU, is a public organization headquartered in orbit of Johannesberg, Earth that is the head authority across the galaxy for matters of time and space research, exploration & starcharting, indexing foreign species and astrogeological or astroarcheological concern. It is a branch of the Irini Space Agency but is not government-run, and succeeds the Velconi-funded Imperial Alien Headcount. Mission Statement The IAU states that the duty of the organization is to bring more information about life, space and time into the public domain. They are funded by various private institutions and large corporations, but largely by governments who recognize and encourage the IAU's existence (such as the Irin Republic, its largest benefactor). The IAU mark is stamped onto most exploration or survey vessels deployed into deep space. The IAU does not have a military branch, but usually has commercial security teams or even government navies to protect its vast, seperated team of scientists and researchers working across the galaxy. Although the name stresses astrobiology in particular, the IAU also deals with archeology and geology on alien worlds. History The Intergalactic Astrobiological Union was developed by humanity (a species known for its natural curiousity) on the planet Earth. Many space organizations have been present on Earth in its past, including NASA and SETI. The charters for the IAU were established as the Irini Astrobiological Union in 2891 as a response to an increasing need for information gathering on alien species; the Imperial Alien Headcount was formed two years later by the Velconum Empire to contest the IAU. After five years, however, the public was concerned that the Republic was not giving out information to the people and that the IAU's daily broadcasts were full of propaganda and falsehoods. The Irin Republic then severed the organization, making it public in 2929. This led to several neutral alien species sending emissaries to the now Intergalactic Astrobiological Union, ballooning it in size. The IAH could not compete with this new organization, and it dissolved by 2930. Most Velconi scientists involved in the Headcount reluctantly joined the IAU. The IAU then began a rigorous campaign of documenting every known species in the galaxy, flora and fauna. The IAU Species Index (IAUSI) system was formed in 2950, and has ever since become the unofficial universal standard for identifying alien life by most known sentient species. IAU Species Index The IAUSI is a system for documenting, identifying and categorizing all living things under a flexible, simple code that can be translated into several forms of alien speech. The index is used in places where the IAU isn't even recognized because of how common it has become. The registry and code system was developed by famous astrobiologist Dr. Alim Syed in 2950 and refined by a team of experts who would become the IAUSIB (IAU Species Index Bureau), the subentity of the IAU in charge of adding, rejecting and editing new species in the index. The common code assigned to each species works as such: the first three letters of the name, the first letter of the planet, S for sentience or N for null, a letter for the vestibulum vitae (life-giving gas), and 9 identification numbers that represent the evolutionary divergence of the species. Creatures with the same number showing up four or more times in a row indicates that this species likely had an interesting evolutionary history. If the creature is sentient, it will sometimes have a suffix at the end that represents its allegiance. If it is a plant, then it will have a P suffix. For example the IAUSI code for humans is HUMESO390582902-IV. As you can see, the HUM is the first few letters of human, the E stands for Earth, the S means the species is sentient, and O represents Oxygen. The 9 letters indicate it is the mammillian homo sapiens in standard computing lexicon. The suffix IV means that the species are mixed between the Irin Republic and the Velconum Empire.